Critical Mass

The Hold Steady has American critics in its grip

Here's a good rule to follow: You should never trust what critics have to say about music, since most critics, as far as this journalist can tell, don't even trust what other critics have to say about music. Here's another good rule to follow: Ignore that first rule if the music critic is talking about the Hold Steady.

The Brooklyn-based band is not only one of the most written about groups in the United States (their past three albums have landed on year-end best-of lists for three years running) but they're also one of the coolest rock 'n' roll bands in the U.S. that most music fans haven't heard of. That might be because the Hold Steady is made up of five 30-something, relatively unattractive dudes and fronted by a guy who can't really sing. It might also have something to do with the fact that most people actually don't trust critics, who have been raving about the group for years.

"I guess you could if you let it," Franz Nicolay, the Hold Steady's keyboardist, says when asked if the disconnect between critical and commercial success ever weighs on him. "I mean, we are one of the best-reviewed bands out there. That's a pretty good start."

These fashion-forward drunks mean business.

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At the moment, Nicolay is relaxing in his London hotel room just a few hours before another sold-out concert. He relishes playing in England because the headlining acts go on so early that he's been getting the best tour sleep he's ever had. Like the rest of the Hold Steady, he's not a conventional-looking rocker. He looks more like a Musketeer with his thin goatee and English-style mustache, the ends curled up ever so slightly. But he does add piano-man-style flourish to every Hold Steady jam, which has led to the group's being compared to the Boss on more than one occasion.

"It's certainly flattering," Nicolay admits. "Everyone in the band is a Springsteen fan. I don't hear it as much as a lot of people do, but sometimes I think that's just shorthand for 'rock band with piano or wordy lyrics. '"

Those "wordy lyrics" belong to frontman Craig Finn, who, as already mentioned, is not what most would call a singer. His style has been called spoken word, but that's not entirely accurate either. See, he can't carry a tune. Imagine Elvis Costello if he'd gargled with asbestos for a few hours. Still, Finn is also one of the best songwriters working today. That may not translate into writing radio hits, but he is penning lyrics that could, in some circles, be called short fiction or even a kind of poetry. Finn writes concept albums, he quotes Jack Kerouac, and he "sings" about poet John Berryman.

"There are certain kinds of albums, in the same way there are certain books and movies, that benefit from relistens, that you hear something new from every time," Nicolay says. "I think Craig's lyrics have always had that quality."

But in their own way, Finn's may have actually held the band back. It's taken a few albums for the rest of the group to figure out a way to set them to music in a way that totally works. And with last year's Boys and Girls in America, Finn, Nicolay, guitarist Tad Kubler, bassist Galen Polivka, and drummer Bobby Drake fully figured that out.

"I think one of the big goals was to integrate the music and the lyrics a little better," Nicolay explains about what led up to the recording of Boys and Girls. "The quality on the first two albums, the lyrics and Craig's performance of them, were in a separate world from the music. Especially with Separation Sunday. It was written so quickly that, in a lot of cases, the lyrics weren't done by the time we recorded."

In other words, music and lyrics had nothing to do with each other. This is sort of why a lot of folks have called Finn a spoken-word artist, since most lyricists write their words to music.

"Given a little more time and a little more familiarity with each other...," Nicolay's voice trails off, before he changes direction. He's explained this already: He and Drake only officially joined the Hold Steady six weeks before the group's second album, Separation Sunday, was recorded, after the music was mostly written, which was pretty much how it worked when he played on the band's debut, The Hold Steady Almost Killed Me, too. Therefore, Boys and Girls is the first Hold Steady album that is equally everyone's in the band.

"A lot of it had to do with introducing a little more melody, first into the music," Nicolay says, citing how the band started compensating in a way for its singer's vocal shortcomings. "Background vocals and piano certainly allows for greater melody between the riffs and lyrics too. I think that gave Craig sort of a platform to add more melody into his performance."

The album has "just got a lot more depth and dynamics... I think maybe for the first time, the music has a similar quality [to Craig's lyrics]. There's a lot of stuff on there you wouldn't hear until the second, seventh, or 12th listen."